Cropredy WI

Cropredy WI – What we do

Learn about varied topics from GM Crops to Belly Dancing.

Learn new skills through Craft Activities and Workshops. Campaign on Important Issues, e.g., Recognising symptoms of ovarian cancer, Stopping modern slavery, Climate Change.

Collect items for recycling or reuse, e.g. jewellery, spectacles, CDs, videos

• Visit the theatre

• Visit museums and galleries

• Eat cake!

• Make friends and have fun.

What we used to do

1925: We learnt about bottling, chair caning, a treasure hunt at Prescote, folk dancing, a concert party and listening to gramophone records that year.

1926: The question was raised what is being done with the rubbish in Cropredy? Entry fees for the tennis tournament were 5/- per couple

1928: Miss Grace Hadow came to speak – active in the suffragette movement and the person who suggested Jerusalem should also be adopted by the WI as well. GWR refused the request for a bridge over the railway line at the station. Material was collected for a book of the village. Activities included a trip to Cheltenham, pastry making, a bright and instructive session on millinery, and the slaughter, plucking and dressing a fowl – this not once, but twice! Miss Bell (who worked at Hammonds poultry farm) impressed fellow members with her speed and skill.

1929: A return visit from Grace Hadow was one of the highlights of the year. Political activist, WI founding member, academic and mountaineer!

1930: The charge for tea at meetings was raised from one penny to 2d. Nurse Pate gave a talk on hot fomentations and making linseed poultices.

1931: Buy British campaign endorsed

1933: Parcels were distributed to old people in the village at Christmas.

1935: Members agreed to serve children’s tea on Jubilee Day, May 6

1938: A lady air raid warden was chosen, and members learnt about ARP work and what to do in an air raid.

1939 340 eggs were collected in Cropredy for Egg Week. Members wrote to the bus company asking for a bus shelter. Milk was distributed to children during the summer holidays. 12/6d was donated towards the cost of blackout material for the Hall. Members were asked to bring their ration books to be stamped for preserving sugar needed for jam making. Conditions in villages as a consequence of evacuee children arriving led to an urgent request to connect mains water to houses